1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to systems, and more particularly to battery systems.
2. Background Art
Portable electronic devices, such as cellular telephones, laptop computers, tablet computers, pagers, and two-way radios for example, derive their portability from batteries having rechargeable cells. These batteries allow these devices to slip the surly bonds of wired power connections to travel with users wherever they may go. A typical battery disposed within one of these devices includes one or more electrochemical cells that may be charged and discharged hundreds of times over the lifetime of the battery. This is particularly true due to the daily reliance people increasingly place upon their personal devices.
When a rechargeable battery is new, the cells within that battery can typically be charged to their maximum rated capacity. Said differently, one hundred percent of the cell capacity is available to store and deliver energy when the battery is new. As the battery is charged and discharged over the course of its life, however, the energy storage capacity of its cell(s), which measures the battery's capability to power a device, decreases due to chemical changes occurring within the cell(s). For example, after roughly 400 charge/discharge cycles, the cell(s) within a battery may only be chargeable to eighty-five or less percent of their original maximum capacity. As a result, a user may notice that the portable electronic device that receives its power from the cell(s) does not provide as much “run time” for active operations or as much “idle time” for standby operations between charging cycles as the device initially did. To understand how the cell(s) are presently performing, it would be advantageous to be able to quickly estimate the remaining capacity of the cell(s) disposed within a rechargeable battery.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure.